From Texas to Bulgaria, A Love for Global Jewish Life

Neely Kasanoff isn’t just a budding expert on JDC’s global work — she wrote her senior thesis on Active Jewish Teens (AJT), the JDC youth program in the former Soviet Union (FSU) in partnership with BBYO — she’s lived and breathed JDC’s mission.

A native Texan, Kasanoff attended an AJT international convention in Kyiv, Ukraine, where she discovered a powerful Jewish life. And since then, she’s inspired other young Jews through her work with JDC Entwine’s KAHAL Abroad program — an initiative that connects students studying abroad with local Jewish communities all over the world.

Here’s her story.

Just like my mother, her mother, and her mother as well, I was born in Texas, and from that line of my ancestry, one could say that I’m a fourth-generation Texan. Yet on my father’s side, my great-grandparents had to flee Imperial Russia and Germany to escape antisemitic persecution in the early 20th century. Growing up in an interfaith family in South Texas, I didn’t always understand the power of being a member of the global Jewish community, but I understood being the only Jewish student in my classes and felt frequently tokenized for having a “Jewish opinion.”

If it wasn’t already clear to me that I was a member of a minority group not always favorably viewed in my region, it quickly became apparent as I increasingly experienced antisemitism in middle and high school. Through it all, rather than sacrificing aspects of my Jewish identity, I was encouraged to seek out a stronger sense of Jewish community.

I found it by joining my local Jewish youth groups, which introduced me to a plethora of Jewish organizations — including JDC and BBYO. Together, the two organizations power the Active Jewish Teens (AJT) network, and in November 2018, I took a trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, with three distinct goals: to experience and engage with the work being done by JDC for Jews in Ukraine, to learn about the history of the country’s Jewish communities, and to brainstorm with Ukrainian Jewish young leaders while attending AJT’s international convention.

For Jews, it is imperative to remember and share the stories of those who are no longer with us. Our group spent a morning at the Babi Yar (Babyn Yar) memorial site, the home to a story I was previously unfamiliar with. During World War II, tens of thousands of Kyiv Jews were ordered to march to a ravine, unaware that they were about to be massacred. The site is beautiful, bursting with flowers and trees, birds chirping all around. We shared stories of survivors, sang the Shema, and sobbed in solidarity. Seeing such beauty in such a horrific place was the perfect example of the Jewish people: We always persist. There is still such a large percentage of the global population who does not know or understand the trials and tribulations the Jewish people have been through in our history, and our job now is to educate the world and foster a global environment not only tolerant, but understanding of the Jewish people.

After four days of touring Kyiv and meeting with the city’s Jewish community, we transitioned to AJT’s international convention. Upon arrival, I was greeted by upwards of 400 Jewish teens from all across the former Soviet Union — places like Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Latvia, Uzbekistan, and Estonia (along with Croatia, Serbia, Israel, and the United States), all of whom were there to celebrate being Jewish. The convention’s theme was “История в каждом из нас” or “History in Each of Us,” with lectures focused on European Jewish history.

The atmosphere was like nothing I’d ever seen before. There were balloons of every color littering the floor, and music playing in every room. Friends ran to hug each other, but they also hugged strangers, glad to be meeting them. I never saw one person frown, and there was never any one person alone. The teens that I encountered were genuine and kind-hearted — the most selfless people I had ever met. 

And I’d never felt more at home. 

After returning from my experience in Ukraine, I was eager to learn more about global Jewish communities. I went abroad to Paris for my first year of college, and while I was worried about being on my own for the holidays and concerned about possible antisemitism, a friend introduced me to JDC Entwine’s KAHAL program, which connected me with other American Jewish students abroad and the local French Jewish community. I was put in touch with a local synagogue and attended holiday celebrations with local French students, eventually rising to the position of being the one organizing events like holiday park picnics. 

Between KAHAL events and my internship at the Radio for the French Jewish Community, I was introduced to the beautiful practices and culture of Sephardic Judaism and I got to learn from those whose ancestors came from vastly different regions and cultures from mine. Still, all of our ancestors had one shared experience — having to relocate because their society was not safe for Jews; we as young Jews now share the inverse experience: working to ensure Jews are safe to live free lives wherever they are in the world. 

After graduating, I had the opportunity to travel with JDC Entwine on an Insider Trip to engage with and learn from the Bulgarian Jewish community. This trip was the experience of a lifetime, and I feel so incredibly lucky to have been present to receive the intimate stories of Bulgarian Holocaust survivors and young Bulgarian professionals working to rebuild the Jewish community after communism.

All of these experiences led me to this conviction: Cultivating diverse, inclusive spaces that welcome Jewish teens who live in their society’s minority allows them to freely construct their Jewish identity and learn the importance of breaking down barriers and finding common ground in relationships. 

Seeing such beauty in such a horrific place was the perfect example of the Jewish people: We always persist.

That’s why there is immense power in collaboration, and infinite potential for increased collaboration between the many organizations spanning the Jewish community. Our community is diverse, but ultimately, we all still read the same Torah and celebrate a shared history. Now more than ever, it is important that we remember regardless of organizational affiliation, nationality, or level of religious commitment, that we stand together and support each other as one Jewish people.

I deeply value JDC Entwine, which prioritizes connecting young adults with global Jewish communities — it has helped me feel more connected to my Judaism., I am continuously inspired by its mission to become a home for any and all Jews worldwide. I’m incredibly grateful for all of my experiences with JDC and I hope to encourage the next generation of Jewish youth to become involved leaders of their own local and global Jewish communities.

Originally from South Texas, Neely Kasanoff is a graduate of New York University with a BA in Global Politics, Rights, and Development and a minor in French Studies. She spent two years at NYU Paris, where she was active with Entwine’s KAHAL Abroad program and had an internship with the Radio for the French Jewish Community speaking on the air about international politics.

Neely’s senior thesis explored the history and identities of the Ukrainian Jewish Community as an ethnocultural minority group, and her interfaith background inspired her to co-found Abrahama NYU in the same year to bring together students from the Jewish, Arab, and Muslim diasporas. She teaches at her synagogue’s Hebrew school, was both a Lauder Fellow with the World Jewish Congress and a Changemakers Fellow with the Jewish Federations of North America, and was an active member in BBYO. 

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